My honey was up and out the door at 6:30 AM on Friday (11/29), off on a one day golfing trip to Pinehurst with Ralph.  I ran through my emails and got my blog out and was at Harris Teeter’s door at 8 AM when they opened.  When I got home I headed to my studio to work on my secret project all day  :~).  I really think it is coming together beautifully and I hope the recipient appreciates it…..I’m hoping that 2 full weeks will be all I need to pull it together.  I had a lovely long talk with Cathy L in the afternoon and we got all caught up on what is happening in each other's lives  :~).  My honey got home at 7 PM…they had a really good time, but he was tired, so after a shower we settled in to watch several cooking shows before bed.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We spent a little time Wednesday night getting our coffee cake semi-ready for breakfast, so it didn’t take us long to finish it up Thursday morning (11/28) and get it into the oven:  

Anne came over to share: 

and we sent a big piece home with our neighbor:  

After that Michael put the golf cart cover on and took Cookie for a walk, while I headed downstairs.  I basically just putzed around until Michael came home and we had second breakfast….I had eggs and sausage…he had eggs and coffee cake!  

I tried to make soap after that….it didn’t trace the way it was supposed to…I called BG and she said I combined it when it was still way too hot :~(.  I put it into the molds….we’ll see what I get tomorrow…but I am not very hopeful.  

We headed outside mid-afternoon to get our Christmas tree lights wrapped around our tree and then broke open the champagne: 

Made out favoriate puffy things:

and decided to start our Christmas movie watching with WHITE CHRISTMAS.  It was a terrific Thanksgiving!

I couldn't resist sharing this with all of you....

*** MMR – Michael’s Movie Reviews ***

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood “ stars Tom Hanks as Mr. ROGERS. This isn’t a movie about Fred Rogers per se but more a relationship movie about Mr. Rogers and “Lloyd Vogel” a journalist for Esquire magazine. Sounds boring, no? But it is most definitely not! You see, not too many people like Lloyd, and he is being punished by his editor to do a “puff piece “ of no more than 400 words on today’s heroes (his subject is Mr. Rogers). He objects but is told do it or else. Grudgingly, he goes to do the interview and slowly is intrigued by his subject and how he interacts with the people around him and especially to Lloyd. Personal history of both men entwine them into a web of a story that is moving and powerfully told. This movie touched me deeply. Life, love and death are all handled with Mr. Rogers’ unique touch. I give it 5 fat quarters out of 5! Don’t miss this one!

Secret Project continues

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone reading this.  I am thankful for all of you....especially the people who let me know they were praying me through the surgery last week.  Internally my nose is still a little swollen and raw, but other than that, I am 100%,  I am VERY grateful that the surgery really was a 'non-event'!

I really do have the sweetest honey ever!!!  He insisted on heading to BJ’s and the grocery store on Wednesday (11/27) even though I told him it would be a ZOO!!!  He left around NOON and didn’t get home until 3:30!!!  

I worked on my:  

I am really excited about how it is going  :~).  

I wanted to say a little bit more about the movie (Mr Rodgers).  AFTER you have seen the movie (don’t do it before) come home and read the article that is referenced in the movie.  And then read some other magazine articles by the same author….he is a TERRIFIC writer;  I am really enjoying reading other things he wrote.  

We had leftovers for dinner and I watched TV and stitched down the labels on my 2 QoV’s.

My friend Jerri sent me a picture of what some of the senior residents did with the scallop shells that Michael and I send their way:

Secret Project strata, movies

Michael called Triple A Tuesday morning (11/26), only to find that the guy working on our car wouldn’t be in until NOON.  The guy who answered the phone said it was in the repair bay….with bunches of wires hanging out of it  :~(.  

He had breakfast and then took off in the golf cart to the other end of the community.  He dropped off some donated baby quilts for me before meeting with Mike M.  A group of guys are going to Scotland next year for golf, and Michael has been invited to join them.  He met with Mike to see all of the dates and plans that have been made so far, to help him decide whether or not he is interested.  

I worked on my : 

all day and started to put together strata:  

I’ve gotta stop working on it and drop back to finishing stuff….but it’s really hard!!!!!  All I wanna do is work on the new project!!!!

Anne picked up Michael at 2:30 PM and took him to pick up the car…after all of this…they’ve decided that even though the battery registered as good…it was not….so they’ve replaced it.  PLEASE cross your fingers that that is really what was wrong!!  

The weather was so nice that Michael and I spent quite a bit of time in the late afternoon out on the lanair  :~).  I baked a tortellini casserole for dinner (and some pecan muffins for breakfast since the oven was on), then we headed out to pick up Anne and go to the movies.  

We saw the Mr Rodgers film ‘a beautiful day in the neighborhood’….it was PROFOUND!!!  It was EXCELLENT!!!  He really was an incredible man.  Everyone should go and see this movie!!!!

A little bit more cleaning in the laundry room....this stuff has been stored on the dryer FOREVER:

Because this is where it is supposed to live:

I never did finish up setting up my baking cupboard...and this mess is the result.  Thank goodness my honey unloaded that bottom shelf onto the counter for me, making it much easier to get to this:

and this:

Double Pinwheel top all done, secret project, string quilt

We got yet another jump on our car Monday morning (11/25) so that Michael could drive up to Triple A once again.  And once again they wanted to keep the car overnight, so Anne went and picked Michael up.  

I decided I was still allowed to play for part of Monday, and I finished up the Double Pinwheel blocks with 2 borders:  

I think this quilt is just beautiful  :~), and am so happy I pulled those leftover bits out!  

By the time I finished it was early afternoon, and I decided I needed to drop back to binding.  Remember the dragonflies from when BG was visiting?  That’s what I worked on for a lot of the day.....no pictures until it is totally finished!    

BUT, Christmas is coming and you know what that means?  The dreaded:  

These are the fabrics I’m thinking of using:  

the big reveal will be before the end of the year, so you won’t have that long to wait  :~).  

I pulled out another drawer (to empty it) and asked my honey to start laying out my string blocks….here’s where he is so far:  

And while we were working, Ethel has found another high place to get to....the top of my craft shelves downstairs:

After that Michael decided to get started on our outdoor Christmas decorations:  

We had leftover rotisserie chicken for dinner and I knit in the evening while watching TV.

I think AJ is whipping up something for Thanksgiving:

French Toast, 2nd QoV totally done, double pinwheel moving on

My honey was up and out early Sunday morning (11/24) giving Cookie a walk before settling in to make French Toast for breakfast:  

I decided I’d give myself until lunchtime to continue to play around with my new blocks….and I was thrilled with what I had by then.  I had to make 2 more blocks for the outside, and also got it all sewn together:  

It’s only a 44’’ square right now, so obviously it will have to be expanded, but I am content for now.  

The end of the year is all about finishing up things for me, so I pulled my second QoV from the to-be-bound pile and started to work on that.  My honey got all of his lists together for errands….and you guessed it…..the car wouldn’t start yet again!!!!   UGH!!!!  Instead he just hit Harris Teeter in the golf cart and then headed up to the driving range to drown his sorrows.  

I was finished with my binding by late afternoon: 

and headed upstairs for a bit of cleaning.  

I feel like our house is getting a little bit more cluttered every day, and I’ve been watching Marie Kondo on NETFLIX….so was inspired to start small.  Our laundry room is out of control, so I spent just 20 minutes cleaning off my laundry shelf…it went from this: 

with about an inch of dust and spilled soap powder on the shelf

to this:  

A totally satisfying experience that I hope to continue 20 minutes at a time  :~).  And on the laundry room windowsill, Michael's Christmas cactus has begun to bloom:

By the time I was done, my honey was home and we had dinner.    I had a little bit of time after dinner, and since I was good and did my binding for most of the day, I decided I could play a little bit more on my newest blocks….and now have a rectangular quilt:  

I LOVE it!!!

all out of scraps

In the morning, Michael got pictures of my baby Ethel’s latest trick….leaping from the kitchen island to the TOP of the cookbook bookcase!!

And Anne was in ANOTHER WORDSCAPES tournament.....and blew away the competition yet again: